Yearly Archives: 2018

Australia’s Broadband Chief Blames Gamers For Wireless Problems

The Chief Executive of Australia's National Broadband Network, Bill Morrow, has suggested that gamers have predominantly contributed to wireless congestion problems across the country.

According to ABC, Morrow told a committee at a parliamentary hearing in Sydney: "While people are gaming it is a high bandwidth requirement that is a steady streaming process."

As a result of this assessment, the National Broadband Network Co (or NBN) is considering "slowing down or limiting downloads for users during peak times", and the users that would be affected by this policy are expected to be "gamers predominantly."

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Amazon Launches New Comic Line Through Digital Publisher ComiXology

Amazon is launching four new titles through its digital comics platform ComiXology.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new projects are Savage Game, a sci-fi Dr. Moreau style story created by NFL player Ryan Kalil, co-written by Shawn Kittelsen, with art from Chris B. Murray; Superfreaks, a tale of teenage superhero sidekicks written by Elsa Charretier and Pierrick Colinet, and art from Margaux Saltel making her series debut; the continuation of long-running series Elephantmen 2261: The Death of Shorty, created and written by Richard Starkings with art by Axel Medellin and Boo Cook; and Ask For Mercy, also from Starkings but art this time coming from Abigail Jill Harding.

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How Star Trek Online Continues the Legacy of Classic Trek

When Star Trek’s Original Series first aired in the 1960s, one theme was a constant – the theme of looking to the future. Roddenberry’s utopian vision of the future centred itself around the philosophy of working to better oneself and the rest of humanity, about looking ahead to the future, rather than languishing in the mistakes of the past. Of course, it wasn’t about forgetting those mistakes - it was about learning from them, and moving onwards.

This theme was carried right through The Next Generation (TNG) era shows and films. They all looked to the future; to the continuing evolution and betterment of humanity.

Things changed upon the release of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2001, which began a trend of producers and writers choosing to focus on a period of time before The Original Series (TOS). Enterprise and the currently airing Discovery are both set in the Prime timeline, before the events of TOS, while the J.J. Abrams produced films are all set parallel to the Original Series, but in the entirely new Kelvin timeline. The chance of a series or film that is set in the post-TNG time period being produced is beginning to look very slim indeed.

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Evolve Dedicated Servers Shutting Down in September

Evolve will see its dedicated servers and in-game shop close on September 3.

According to an announcement on 2K's official support site, the multiplayer-only Evolve Stage 2 will have its virtual currency bundles removed from purchase on July 2, followed by the shutdown of the in-game store and dedicated servers on September 3.

Peer-to-peer multiplayer will still be available on the PC and console versions of Legacy Evolve, the renamed original game before it was given the free-to-play treatment back in July of 2016. Evolve Stage 2 will be removed on PC.

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Food Wars Season 3 Made Its Most Sexualized Character Its Most Profound

Food Wars has a particular reputation for its flamboyant melodrama and hypersexualized food-gasms which may seem problematic, but its reality is a little deeper than that. Beyond this ecchi’s exploding clothing and unbelievable lore lies something really special that so many mediums of entertainment just can’t get right--its ability to tackle traumatic topics that would otherwise be considered taboo through its characters backstories.

If you’re not already caught up with the latest season of Food Wars, we recommend stopping reading now. From this point forward, you’ll be getting a massive helping of spoilers for Food Wars: The Third Plate. This piece also contains open discussion about trauma and abuse. Reader discretion is advised.

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How Movie Theaters Are Failing Viewers with Disabilities

This February I went on a Twitter rant about my local Cinemark movie theater after a humiliating encounter I had with management over reserved seating. I use a wheelchair that required a handicap space and my companion needed a seat. The problem? The handicap seats had apparently been reserved online. Once the feature started the adjoining seats were still empty, so I transferred out of my wheelchair into a more comfortable seat than my own. Enter three able-bodied twentysomethings who didn’t just want the seat I was in, but the seat my companion had as well. In the end, it wasn’t me who had a seat, but the able-bodied people who had reserved seats they knew were for the disabled. Why couldn’t going out to see a movie be easy? Because if you’re a person living with disabilities, movie theaters aren’t thinking of you.

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The Best VPN Deals June 2018

NordVPN: £2.04 p/m. CyberGhost VPN £2.04 p/m. IPVanish: £4.81 p/m. TunnelBear: £4.32 p/m. ExpressVPN: £6.18 p/m. PureVPN: £1.42 p/m. VyprVPN: £3.63 p/m. PIA: £2.16 p/m.

Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers Review: Running On Fumes

Dillon the Armadillo is every stoic hero of the Old West... but as an anthropomorphic armadillo. He doesn't say much because he really doesn't need to. His prowess with weapons and dedication to defending good folks just trying to make their way is essentially his whole character. And while, until now, he's been known for his forays within small downloadable games, Dead-Heat Breakers represents a big next step for the franchise.

Most of the game makes the transition well, in part because the premise is played in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. Dillon's a no-nonsense guy, and seeing him surrounded by a colorful cast of goofy sapient animals works pretty well. But, after a time there's definitely the feeling that too little game is spread out over too much time. Dead-Heat Breakers grinds to a crawl at times, and while it's far from insurmountable, it's hard to shake the feeling that in this case less would have been more.

While Dillon may be the game's namesake and main action hero, he's not the actual protagonist. When you start up the game, you'll have a Mii of your choice polymorphed into an Amiimal. And it's this "person" that the story centers around. In short, you've narrowly survived an attack on your home town, and you've gone to get help from the infamous "Red Flash," Dillon. On your way, your big rig is attacked by some industrial monstrosities and Dillon and his sidekick/mechanic Russ happen to be in the right place at the right time.

Most of the proceedings are played for comedy, poking at the classic tropes of the western, while mixing a good bit of modern absurdity. Not too long after that encounter, for instance, Russ determines that the team needs a massive gun. And they aren't kidding. He maps it all out in his head and sets to work getting the materials to build a weapon that would put World War II-era train-mounted cannons to shame.

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This pair of scenes (the battle between your would-be attackers and Dillon, as well as the process for gathering materials after the fact) make up the two primary phases of play. They loosely correspond to the day and night and will follow that pattern throughout. In the prep part (daytime), you'll wander around town doing odd jobs for the people and participating in mini-games to gather up the required gear for your nightly missions. This works well for pacing at first, but you'll start to feel the drag as the cycles wear on.

Daytime will put you through a few different main activities, including time-trial races and bouts against the series' most iconic foe--the stone-headed, space-faring Groks. Here you can earn money which you can then toss to Wendon for supplies, which go to Russ for assembly into the Breaker (i.e. that giant gun). These are meant to help give you some practice for the more rough-and-tumble nighttime bouts but are too dissimilar to serve as a proper warm-up, and not unique enough to feel like a good break from the main action.

When that time does come, though, you and the Amiimals of your friends and other Miis on your system will assemble into a group, ready to tackle the big bad of the night. This is where the series' touted tower defense-action fusion comes in. Here, like in the opening segment, you'll command the Red Flash and have the option of hiring on the different Amiimals to play defense. Each carries a different weapon with their own attack styles and strengths. Ostensibly the daytime's mini-games are there to help acclimate you to these differences, but in practice, over the game's 15 missions, you'll know who does what pretty quickly and can make your own appropriate choices.

Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers is best enjoyed in spurts. Powering through the game quickly reveals its many weaknesses (the toll on your hands, and the repetitiveness of the combat and day-night cycle being chief among them), but no part of the adventure is bad, really; it simply wears thin.

Once you've made your choices, you're off to the fight. Your job as Dillon is to keep the pressure off the Amiimals. Using a powerful accelerator as well as Dillon's natural claws and thick hide, you can slam and slash your foes while zooming about the map. On the bottom screen, you'll be able to see a breakdown of the map, the attack range of your team, and which places need your help.

Recruiting more teammates helps take the pressure off you but depletes your coffers and therefore cuts your strategic options for later down quite a bit. Therein lies the big question for how to allocate resources.

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Dillon himself can be great fun to play, but the controls are perplexing. Most everything is handled with the joystick and the A button; attacks are somewhat contextual but rely on holding the button down, releasing before pressing, and holding or tapping quickly to different moves. This isn't ideal as it can be occasionally easy to accidentally dash instead of landing an attack, and the constant strain on your thumb during combat sections would have been reduced if you simply used another button or trigger when your attack was ready.

Many of these sequences devolve into high-speed chases where you'll have to clear out every foe during their final assault. There's an excellent bit of white-knuckled tension as you rush from enemy to enemy, spinning up, bashing them, and slashing to bits. Combined with some smart visuals and a great system for snapping you to baddies so you don't inadvertently overshoot them makes these segments a great bit of intense fun--even if they leave your thumbs sore.

Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers is best enjoyed in spurts. Powering through the game quickly reveals its many weaknesses (the toll on your hands, and the repetitiveness of the combat and day-night cycle being chief among them), but no part of the adventure is bad, really; it simply wears thin. It's a competent, fun little outing that's almost perfectly suited for kids who need something silly and ridiculous that won't require too much thought or technical mastery.